Saturday, January 30, 2010

If you don't know the story of Miss D.'s incredibly fussy eating habits, I would encourage you to go here.

We're improving, teeny baby steps at a time, here at Chez T. Miss D. and Miss M. are still incredibly fussy eaters, but they're getting better at trying new things and definitely are showing interest in cooking. We're spending some lovely time together in the kitchen every week, and I cherish that.

The other day, as I was fixing breakfast, Miss D. said, "Hey Mama, do you think I could make my very own smoothie?"

This from the mouth of a girl who's never allowed a smoothie to pass her lips.

"Sure," I said, trying very hard not to show even a sliver of excitement, because parental excitement is a guaranteed Buzzkill.

"I have several recipes for smoothies; I'll find them for you."

"No, Mama. I don't want to make it that way. I want to invent my very own smoothie," she said.

Hoo-boy. This from the mouth of a girl who has no idea what ingredients go into a smoothie.

My mind started to race a little. I had visions of Froot-Loop-Sour-Apple-Gogurt-Peanut-Butter Smoothie dancing in my head.

"Okay," I said. Hey, what the Hell.

"Awesome!" she shouted, bolting out of her seat and doing a pint-sized version of the Yummy Dance. "I'm going to concoct my recipe!" Concoct my recipe? Where does she get this stuff?

Pen and paper in hand, she returned to the kitchen.

"Hmmm," she said, tapping her pencil. "What kind shall I make?" Shall? Has she been sneaking down to the basement while I'm watching The Tudors again?

"I think we'll need raspberries. And strawberries."

Solid start. Nothing Gag-Tackular there.

"And maybe a teeeeeensy drop of lemon," she added. It's official: the child is from Mars.

"And sugar, of course."

"Not too much, and maybe honey would be better," I said. Big Mouth.

"Okay." Pause. "What else will we need, Mama?"

"Something liquid, so you can suck it through a straw," I said. "Milk would be good."

So it was settled. Off I went to the store. And noticed that fresh raspberries were 6 bucks for a tiny little carton. Screw that! Frozen berries, here we come.

My little chef impressed me. And she was quite proud of her little concoction.

38 comments:

Awesome....instill the desire to create and cook while they are young. MY boys are in their early twenties and don't hesitate to experiment in the kitchen...they are going to have happy wives someday! And smoothies are always a big hit at my house!

My daughter who was a picky eater too (no sauce please). That was one of the first things she make herself too. She still will get out that Magic Bullet, add mango, or guava, or strawberries when we have fresh, juice, or milk, and whizz away. We are lucky to be able to get all these tropical fruit pulp at our local grocers in the freezer section, very inexpensive. Everything from tamarind, guanabana, maracuya, papaya, mango, guava etc...it's fun! Now if I can get her to clean up w/o me bugging her.

Congrats to Miss D. on her first, official (and published!) very-own-smoothie recipe. It looks delish, and I'm inspired to get one blending over here at Chez GEW.

Clearly, she has been paying attention when you didn't notice (they do that, don't they?), and she picked up on the GOOD stuff. And kudos to your for keeping your excitement on the down low. My husband and do that whenever a kid takes a bite of broccoli. We glance at each other like "Did you see that?", and then we try like hell to pretend we didn't even see it.

Just finished season one of The Tudors a few weeks ago. The Girlfriend and I have decided that we're quite alright with mixing history in with our soft-core porno, even if things have a tendency to get decidedly weird on that show every once in a while.

When I was about your daughter's age, my mom let me "adapt" a chocolate chip cookie receipe. I recently stumbled the receipe in the Betty Crocker Cookboo, where I had crossed out "Chocolate Chip Cookies" and scrawled, in pencil, Ooey-Gooey Extra Chewy Chocolate Chip-y Peanuttery Gum Drop Cookies. Ew. But I remember that "inventing" that recipe made me intensely happy.

Woo hoo! Cheers to you for some great parenting, and to Miss D for trying something different. (I still have a hard time grasping the fact that you have picky eaters in your house. Do they not know how lucky they are having all of that fantabulous food you "concoct" around?)

"Nothing's a bigger buzzkill than parental enthusiasm" - truer words were never written. How to balance enthusiasm and encouragement while remembering how skittish they are? My daughter writes beautifully but I'm allowed to only show polite interest. Any more and she abandons it.

"because parental excitement is a guaranteed Buzzkill" SO true! She is just like her mama: she wants to create her own recipe! Aren't you a proud mama now? It is ok. You can brag you are amongst friends! :-) I also believe that the frozen berries make it taste even better. Mr. Monk's recipe: Frozen strawberries. Apple juice. Banana. No need for ice at all.

Soooo cute. "Froot-Loop-Sour-Apple-Gogurt-Peanut-Butter Smoothie dancing in my head." Me, too. Must go make one."Concoct my recipe? Where does she get this stuff?" Okay, do I need to go there or will a "no comment" suffice?

Okay, I'm gonna have to try this with mine. As of the last couple of weeks, Ben has decided the only thing he wants to eat is Sour Patch Candy, Milk, Bagels with cream cheese. Every meal is torture. First, we tried negotiation: "If you eat 4 more bites ,you can get up from the table." That turned into him asking "How many bites do I have to eat?" THE MOMENT we placed the plate on the table. Now, we have turned to bribery: "If you eat your dinner without giving us any problems, you can have some treats later." This morning, upon eating his bagel with cream cheese, he turned to me and said: "Look, Mama, I ate my bagel, and I didn't give you any problems, so can I have sour patch candy for dessert?" (Meanwhile, his 18-month-old brother is like a human Hoover.)